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FA 2014 RwS Completed Tasks - Fall 2014
20.6 UnderratedSearch And Rescueby Melissa Crandall
Published 1994 and 76 ratings
Review:
This is the second book I read about this TV show. I love the TV show. However, I feel this author didn't capture the characters of Sam and Al. I was lost as far as where the plot was going. The characters were pretty flat. I didn't care about any of them. I did like that Sam and Al got to leap together. However, they didn't receive any help. Ziggy only made am appearance once in the entire book. I just think it could have been better. The only times there were any kind of real emotions between the characters were when 1) Al was talking to Faye before his host was about to die and 2) when Al and Sam were reunited. The only redeeming part of this book was you got to see more of Al.
Task +20
Style: 10
Book Total: 30
Grand Total: 175
From Post 942Rebekah wrote: "20.4 Phineas Redux
Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings by Mark Twain
+20 pts - Task
+10 pts - Combo (10.4 -Uncensored, 10.7 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_T..."
+10 Not a Novel
From Post 926Coralie wrote: "10.8 Comfort Reads
Brothers in Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold
+10 task (I gave 5 stars to The Curse of Chalion)
Task total: 10
Grand Total: 650"
+5 Oldies
From Post 931Cory Day wrote: "20.5 Political
Hayduke Lives! by Edward Abbey
Review: I read The Monkey Wrench Gang in college and really liked it, so I was excited to read the sequel. I didn’t rea..."
+5 Oldies
Rebekah wrote: "20.4 Phineas ReduxLetters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings by Mark Twain
+20 pts - Task
+10 pts - Combo (10.4 -Uncensored, 10.7 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twa...)
Connie wrote: "20.7 Make It StrangeFrom Post 944
Blindness by José Saramago (on page 9 of the list)
Review:
A man sits in his car, blocking traffic, while drivers behind him sound their horns..."
+10 Combo 10.4 (blindness) and 10.5 (from the list)
Kath wrote: " 15.10 BtW Constant travellerThe Chief Witness by Herbert Adams, p. 1939
+ 15 task
+ 150 BtW finish bonus
+ 200 Mega finish bonus
Grand total 1260"
Congratulations on your mega finish, Kath!
Rosemary wrote: "20.7 - Make It StrangeWas by Geoff Ryman
+20 task
Task total: 20
RwS finish: 100
Mega finish: 200 :-)
Grand Total: 1595 points"
Well done, Rosemary!
Deedee wrote: "+100 Reading with Style Finish!"Way to go, Deedee!
Kate S wrote: "Connie wrote: "20.7 Make It StrangeFrom Post 944
Blindness by José Saramago (on page 9 of the list)
Review:
A man sits in his car, blocking traffic, while driver..."
Thanks, Kate.
10.3 Leif EriksonA Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen
+10 task
+15 Combo (10.7, 20.1, 20.4)
+10 Oldies (1879)
+10 Not a Novel (Play)
Task total: 45
Grand Total: 710
20.10 Higher EducationQuiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
I don't normally enjoy, or even read, books of a sociological bent. So often they just seem to spell out the obvious, and I was skeptical about reading Quiet for this reson. I am a consumate introvert, and so is the majority of my immediate and extended family, and yet I learned quite a bit from Cain, and have enjoyed discussing her book with a number of people. I like the way she uses psychological studies and examples from people's lives to help reframe our understanding of the introvert/ extrovert debate. She spends a lot of the book discussing the ways to bring out the strengths of both persuasions, and it would be great if schools and workplaces took what she has to say to heart. The book is clearly written to counter the emphasis in Western society on extroversion as the norm (extronormative might be a good word to coin for this), and so it has less to say on extroversion. There are times, however, when the definitions of both introversion and extroversion are too all encompassing, so that extroversion becomes lumped in with a lot of adhd symptoms like impulsivity, and introversion sounds like the classic definition of gifted children. Despite this over- generalization, however, I do feel it was worth reading.
20 pt. task http://www.utexas.edu/ugs/frr/archive...
+10 review
+5 combo ( 10.4 for introverts)
+10 not a novel
Task total: 45
Grand Total: 455
10.8 - Comfort Read - Cory Day's Task:A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty
There is great world building coupled with a real world plot in A Corner of White. Jaclyn Moriarty has created an imaginative place called The Kingdom of Cello. Through a crack between Cambridge, England and that kingdom, Madeline, a real world girl, and Elliot, a resident of Bonfire in Cello exchange letters. It’s a unique and clever device that lets us into both environments, but with the humor of the misunderstandings that occur between the two protagonists, one who doesn’t even believe the other exists. I was totally absorbed in learning about these worlds and didn’t mind the slow build up knowing that this was book one of a new series. I would recommend this one to anyone who likes good YA fiction.
+10 Task: I rated The Ghosts of Ashbury High 5 stars in November, 2010
+10 Review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 2380
Task 20.6 - UnderratedThe Overnight (2004) by Ramsey Campbell (Hardcover, 396 pages)
Review:The Overnight was the 2005 Winner of International Horror Guild Awards for best horror novel of the year. The author states in a preface to this novel that he took a job at the local branch of Borders Book Store. Ramsey Campbell is a horror writer by trade. He combines his horror-novel writing ability with his newly acquired knowledge of life as a chain bookstore worker, and the result is this novel. We get to know the workers at the chain bookstore (location: near Manchester, England). The emphasis in the first half is on life as a worker at a chain bookstore. The manager is an American who is described as exemplifying every negative stereotype of Americans. The second half all occurs over the course of one night at the bookstore. The employees are preparing the store for inspection by upper level management. The spooky horror stuff is mostly in the background, and the characters of the story can be forgiven for finding natural causes for the events happening around them. Almost the entire novel is set in the Book Store. It was very claustrophobic, and not very scary.
Ramsey Campbell’s 1980s horror novels were spooky and interesting. This one was dull and claustrophobic. I don’t see how it won an award for best horror novel of the year. (Maybe 2005 wasn’t a good year for horror novels?) I have to say: not recommended.
+20 Task
+05 Combo (#10.4 “Overnight”)
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 05 + 10 = 35
Grand Total: 1360 + 35 = 1395
10.6 Short StuffGive Me Your Heart: Tales of Mystery and Suspense by Joyce Carol Oates
Review:
"Give Me Your Heart" is a collection of ten dark short stories about people looking for love and acceptance. They are often downtrodden people who are emotionally on the edge, or teenagers who have found themselves over their heads in dangerous situations. The title story is about an older man who promised a woman student that he would love her forever--and the rejected woman is stalking him and planning her revenge years later. "Strip Poker" involves an adolescent girl getting caught up in a card game with some older male teens in an isolated cottage--and trying to outsmart them. "Vena Cava" tells the story of a soldier returning from Iraq with PTSD and terrible injuries to his head which prevent him from emotionally connecting to the civilian world.
The stories were so intense that I found I only wanted to read a couple in one sitting. A few stories had endings that went a bit overboard. But the rest were frighteningly plausible, much like the activities of real deranged people we read about in our newspapers. Joyce Carol Oates is a good storyteller, building up tension higher and higher, then ending in a twist or horrific event.
+10 task (O'Henry Award)
+ 5 combo (20.6--460 ratings)
+10 review
+10 not a novel
Task total: 35
Grand total: 610
10.4 - 9, 10, 11The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
+10 task (disappeared)
Task total: 10
Grand Total: 1635 points
15.10 - BtW Constant Traveler1919-1920: Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
+15 task
+15 bonus
Task total: 30
Well-traveled bonus: 150
Grand Total: 985
10.6 Short StuffInterpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
This was my first Jhumpa Lahiri and was a great way to dive into her work. I liked her characterization a lot in all the stories and I enjoyed the way the stories’ plots were realistic but with a little twist – there was always something that was a little unique or a little surprising, but not so wild that it was unbelievable. I really liked the title story and “A Real Durwan” – both featured characters that were slightly unlikeable but very interesting. I loved “A Temporary Matter” – I thought it was brilliantly drawn and then the twist at the end truly surprised me.
+10 task (she won the O'Connor award in 2008)
+10 combo (10.4 - interpreter; 10.5 - #62 on list)
+10 review
+10 not-a-novel (short stories)
Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 610
20.3 Thieves & MysteriesThe Yard by Alex Grecian
This, for me, is one of the books that makes this challenge so rewarding – I would never have known about this book if it weren’t for this task, and I’m so glad that I found this author. Alex Grecian does what all great historical fiction writers do – makes you care about the characters and relate to them, without losing the unique aspects of the time period and setting. As a mystery fan, I appreciated the mystery – it was skillfully told and exciting, with a good pace. And as a historical fiction fan, I enjoyed Grecian’s work as well. I will definitely be checking out the rest of this series.
+20 task (#29 on Victorian Mysteries list)
+10 review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 640
15.10 BtWConstantTravelerBrighton Rock by Graham Greene
( published 1938)
30 pt. task
+ 150 pt. bonus
Grand Total: 635
20.3 Thieves & MysteriesDodger by Terry Pratchett
Review: This is a delightful Terry Pratchett book read by Stephen Briggs, set in early Victorian London and loosely based on the character, Artful Dodger, in Charles Dickens's novel, Oliver Twist. Pratchett's humor and Dodger's own moral code are wonderful foils to the picture of grinding poverty at the bottom of London's class structure of the time. And Dodger's landlord and guide, Solomon Cohen, is the wise voice of hard won experience and pragmatism. The appearance of historic characters including Dickens, Queen Victoria, Disraeli and many others adds to the fun of the book. Briggs does a marvelous job of bringing the book to life with his reading.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 30
Grand Total: 565
20.10 - Higher Education Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/site/atagla...
+20 Task
+10 Not-a-novel (non-fiction)
Task total = 30
Points total = 240
10.9 - MythologicalLa guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu by Jean Giraudoux
Takes place within the framework of the Iliadic myth of the Trojan War
+10 Task
+10 Not-a-novel (play)
+10 Oldies (1935)
Task total = 30
Points total = 270
20.10 - Higher Education:Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
On at least these lists: http://www.utexas.edu/ugs/frr/archive... and http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/a...
Review: This book had been on my TBR shelf for a long time for a very obvious reason: I've known for ages that I'm an introvert. It's not really a secret to anyone who knows me - I've been called "quiet," "shy," "nerdy" since I started school. Instead of going to parties I was going to the library and instead of having lots of friends I only had a few true ones. So I wanted to read what Cain has to say about introverts.
Lots of it was quite self-evident to me, as I've studied Psychology and have also spent lots of time on analyzing why I do the things I do and why I like the things I like. It was familiar, cozy, I found myself nodding a lot. I am very well aware of how being social drains me (but that I need to sometimes do it and push my limits and more often than not like it, in limited doses). I'd like to think I'm quite good at finding my Restorative Niches, since I know I have to find them to protect myself. So maybe there wasn't a lot of new stuff in the book, but it was still pleasant to read and I found some bits and pieces here and there that I didn't know about or hadn't thought of. In some chapters the case was maybe a bit overstated, as reading them you got the feeling that introverts are just so much better than extroverts, but it did not bother me too much. I'd definitely recommend it to someone who doesn't know much about introverts and what their world is like and who wants to find out how to get along with us better.
+20 task
+5 combo (10.4 - 9, 10, 11: introverts)
+10 review
+10 not-a-novel (non-fiction)
Task total: 45
Grand total: 420
10.8 Comfort ReadTo End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 by Adam Hochschild
Review: Hochschild has written another fascinating, readable history. This is a history of WWI from a British point of view.
I visited a village church in England a couple of years ago. I was struck by the memorials listing the parish members who had died in the Great War and in WWII. While the list for WWII was less than 10, the Great War memorial had well over 30 names. I had not realized the devastation that WWI had caused a generation of Englishmen.
Hoschild does a wonderful job of making the history personal following well known and important figures as well as some that history has over looked or forgotten.
Hochschild has helped me, an American, who was raised on US-centric history, to see a more nuanced picture of the war. He has written the clearest explanation of the Boer War that I have ever read. He has placed the Irish Easter Rebellion in context. I am also beginning to get a better picture of the rise of the fear of socialism and communism.
His portrayal of the anti-war movement in England was all new to me. And there were a lot of echoes of the U.S. during the Vietnam Nam War.
Highly recommended.
+10 Task (I rated Hochschild's Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves 5 star in May)
+5 Combo 20.9 (b. 1942)
+10 Not-a-novel (nonfiction)
+10 Review
Task total: 35
Grand total: 600
20.4 RealismMemoirs of an Egotist by Stendhal
+20 task
+5 Combo (20.6 127 ratings)
+10 Oldies (1892)
+10 Not a Novel (memoir)
Task total: 45
Grand Total: 755
20.6 - UnderratedBrothers: Life, Death, Truth by Ted van Lieshout
Review:
It's the early 1970s, and 16-year-old Luke is reading the diary of his brother Marius, who died 6 months before, at the age of 14. At the same time, Luke is writing between the lines of the diary, so the story is presented almost like a dialogue between the two brothers, one alive and one dead.
Luke finds out things he didn't know about Marius and wasn't admitting about himself, but for me, this was Marius's story and it's a tragic one. The way he was treated by the health care system was almost worse than his illness itself.
I found Luke hard to like, and Marius so sweet that the book seemed unbalanced. It was realistic - Luke is not unusual in having been unable to talk about his emotions - but unsatisfying in some ways. I felt Luke was very damaged and the ending didn't resolve that. All the same, it was an involving and moving story.
+20 task (273 ratings)
+10 review
Task total: 30
Grand Total: 1665 points
20.4 RealismThe Muse of the Department by Honoré de Balzac
The Muse of the Department involves a young woman who is married to a man 30 years her senior, a rather smallish and once-sickly man, miserly and wanting of an heir. After five years of marriage, there is no heir in sight, and, though in the early days of the marriage he was generous, Monsieur de la Baudraye becomes ever more miserly.
To Dinah:
"Do not confound hatred and vengeance," said the Abbe. "They are two different sentiments. One is the instinct of small minds; the other is the outcome of law which great souls obey. God is avenged, but He does not hate. Hatred is a vice of narrow souls; they feed it with all their meanness, and make it a pretext for sordid tyranny. ..."One of the characters is a writer and a journalist, and I was amused to find Balzac commenting on the state of literature.
Formerly all that was expected of a romance was that it should be interesting. As to style, no one cared for that, not even the author; as to ideas -- zero; as to local color -- non est. By degrees the reader has demanded style, interest, pathos, and complete information; he insists on the five literary senses - Invention, Style, Thought, Learning, and Feeling.I have read most of the major Balzac titles. I guess it should be no surprise that these lesser titles are not quite as good. This is one I'll remember. It probably sits right on the border between 3 and 4 stars, but I'm feeling generous today.
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.4 "department", 20.6, 22 ratings)
+10 Review
+15 Oldies (pub 1843)
Task Total = 55
Grand Total = 760
And that will do it for me this season, on to Winter!
Post 965 Heather wrote: "20.6 - 254 reviewsThe Big Book of Conspiracies by Doug Moench
+20 task
+10 not a novel
task total: 30
grand total: 1765"
You're good for the task on his Heather, but Graphic Novels do not qualify for styles.
Post 990 Marie wrote: "10.9 - MythologicalLa guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu by Jean Giraudoux
Takes place within the framework of the Iliadic myth of the Trojan War
+10 Task
+10 Not-a-no..."
Unfortunately, the most popular English language edition of this, Tiger At The Gates: A Play In Two Acts, has only 78 pages, and thus does not qualify.
10.4 - 9, 10, 11:The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan
+10 Task: amazement
+ 5 Jumbo: 589 pages
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 2395
20.2 - Birthplace: The Dark by John McGahern
+20 Task: author from Ireland
+ 5 Combo: 20.6 - Underrated (1965, 387)
+ 5 Oldies (1965)
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 2425
From Post 903Kath wrote: " 15.10 BtW Constant traveller
The Chief Witness by Herbert Adams, p. 1939
+ 15 task
+ 150 BtW finish bonus
+ 200 Mega finish bonus
Grand total 1260"
+15 Bonus (BtW book 10)
Liz M wrote: "15.10 - BtW Constant Traveler1919-1920: Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
+15 task
+15 bonus
Task total: 30
Well-traveled bonus: 150
Grand Total: 985"
Congrats on your BtW Finish, Liz!
Jama wrote: "15.10 BtWConstantTravelerBrighton Rock by Graham Greene
( published 1938)
30 pt. task
+ 150 pt. bonus
Grand Total: 635"
Way to go, Jama!
15.9 BtW Constant Traveler1935-36
Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier
+15 Task
+15 Bonus
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 1020
15.10 BtW Constant Traveler1937-38
Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie
+15 Task
+15 Bonus
+150 Well Traveled Bonus
Post Total: 180
Season Total: 1200
Congratulations, Liz and Jama!
10.5 Dr. SalkThe Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
+10 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel
+5 Combo 20.10
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 1235
10.6 Short StuffCollected Stories by William Faulkner
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.4)
+20 Jumbo (900 pages)
+5 Oldies (1948)
+10 Not-a-Novel
Post Total: 50
Season total: 1285
10.7 Honored AuthorsAmerika by Franz Kafka
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.7)
+10 Oldies (1927)
+100 RwS Finish
+200 Mega Finish
Post Total: 325
Season Total: 1610
10.9 - Mythological Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan 11/28/14
The Wheel of Time series was approved for this task by Karen Michele in the discussion thread.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
+10 task
+15 jumbo (860 pages)
Task total: 25
BtW total: 75
RwS total: 980
Grand Total: 1055
This will be my final post for the Fall Season. It's the first time I didn't complete the challenge, but I thoroughly enjoyed the books I did read. On to Winter!
Task 20.6 - UnderratedHeart of Iron (2011) by Ekaterina Sedia
Sidewise Award Nominee for Alternate History (2011)
Review: Ms. Sedia, has written an Alternate History novel wherein the Decembrist Revolt (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decembri... ) was successful, Tsar Nicholas I was deposed, and the Decembrists leaders became leaders of Russia under Nicholas’s brother Constantine. (In real life, a handful of the Decembrist’s leaders were executed and the rest were exiled to Siberia for 20+ years.) In Heart of Iron, the successful Decembrists spark technological advances that did not happen in the *real* world, so that the characters have access to state-of-the-art trains, submersibles, and hot air balloons (can you say: steampunk?). I went along with a willing suspension of disbelief for the first 1/3rd of the novel. Then, the author has our sympathetic heroine decide that she has to (mild) (view spoiler). I had the reaction: oh, come ON now! But I continued reading. The rest of the novel was entertaining while being slightly preposterous. Still, I’d recommend it for fantasy / steampunk fans. The novel passes the Bechtel Test! And, the steampunk trappings are really cool.
+20 Underrated
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 10 = 30
Grand Total: 1395 + 30 = 1425
10.5 Dr. SalkThe Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Review:
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I read about half in hard copy, then listened to the second half as an audiobook. I think the book was better read in print, but I finished the last audiobook for the season a few days early and decided I needed another. This book has a lot of technical and scientific information packed in, but I didn't find that the reading bogged down with the technical details. I loved hearing about the history of research and the debates within the scientific and medical community. I received this book originally from a swap at my bookclub and I think I'll be bringing it back to try to get the book on the bookclub reading list.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Not a novel
+5 Jumbo
Task total: 35
Grand total: 1030
That's it for this season!
10.9 MythologicalOld Greasybeard: Tales from the Cumberland Gap by Leonard Roberts
+10 pts - Task
+10 pts - Combo (10.4, 20.6)
+10 pts - Non- Novel
+ 5 pts - Oldies (1969. I couldn't find a link to prove the date. The copy I have has this date. The Library of Congress Catalog Card Number is 69-20398)
Task Total - 35 pts
Grand Total - 470 pts
20.5 - The Prime MinisterThe Trial Of Andrew Johnson by Noel B. Gerson
+20 pts - Task
+ 5 pts - Combo (20.60
+ 5 pts - Oldies (1977)
+10 pts - Not a Novel
Task Total - 40 pts
Grand Total - 500 pts
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
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Dracula (other topics)
The Trial of Andrew Johnson (other topics)
Stranger Things Happen (other topics)
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Carol Davis (other topics)Tana French (other topics)
Bram Stoker (other topics)
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Noel B. Gerson (other topics)
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Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis
I can't quite put my finger on why I was so lukewarm on this. Nothing was awful, but, frankly, I can't find anything to praise either.
I don't know how long Sinclair Lewis took to write it. Martin Arrowsmith has several stages in his life, and the writing itself seems to change with it. I don't think that was intentional, just, perhaps, that Lewis improved as he went along. The prose never does get excellent, just that it improves.
I have a couple of other quibbles. In the earlier stages mid-westerners were narrow-minded, Christian capitalists and treated in a small way by Lewis. However, the atheistic socialists were presented in a good light. There are basically two women in the entire novel. We never learn what Leora does all day, and we are given almost no characterization of her. Actually, I don't think the characterizations of the men were all that great either, but most of them were closer to being real people.
I think I read his Babbit decades ago, and I'm probably finished with whatever Sinclair Lewis has to offer.
+10 Task
+ 5 Combo (10.4)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (pub 1925)
Task Total = 35
Grand total = 705